Appendix I

UN General Assembly Resolution 51/45 S: An International Agreement to Ban Anti-personnel Landmines

Published in Towards a Landmine Free Africa
Proceedings of the First Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines



The General Assembly:

Recalling with satisfaction its resolutions 48/75 K of 16 December 1993, 49/75 D of 15 December 1994 and 50/70 O of 12 December 1995, in which it inter alia, urged States to implement moratoriums on the export of anti-personel landmines,

Also recalling with satisfaction its resolutions 49/75 D and 50/70 O, in which it inter alia established as a goal of the international community the eventual elimination of anti-personnel landmines,

Noting that, according to the 1995 report of the Secretary-General entitled “Assistance to mine clearance”, it is estimated that there are one hundred and ten million landmines in the ground in more than sixty countries throughout the world,

Noting also that, according to the same report, the global landmine crisis continues to worsen as an estimated two million landmines are laid each year, while only an estimated one hundred and fifty thousand were cleared in 1995,

Expressing deep concern that anti-personnel landmines kill or maim hundreds of people every week, mostly innocent and defenceless civilians and especially children, obstruct economic development and reconstruction, inhibit the repatriation of refugees and the return of internally displaced persons, and have other severe consequences for years after emplacement,

Gravely concerned about the suffering and casualties caused to non-combatants as a result of the proliferation, as well as the indiscriminate and irresponsible use, of anti-personnel landmines,

Recalling with satisfaction its resolutions 48/7 of 19 October 1993, 49/215 A of 23 December 1994 and 50/82 of 14 December 1995 calling for assistance in mine clearance,

Welcoming the recent decisions taken at the Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects particularly with respect to the Convention’s amended Protocol II, and believing that the amended Protocol is an essential part of the global effort to address problems caused by the proliferation, as well as the indiscriminate and irresponsible use, of anti-personnel landmines,

Welcoming the adoption of the declaration entitled “Towards a Global Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines” by participants at the Ottawa International Strategy Conference on 5 October 1996, including its call for the earliest possible conclusion of a legally binding international agreement to ban anti-personnel landmines, and further welcoming the follow-on conference at Brussels in June 1997,

Welcoming also the recent decisions taken by States to adopt various bans, moratoriums or other restrictions on the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, and other measures taken unilaterally as well as multilaterally,

Recognizing the need to conclude an international agreement to ban all anti-personnel landmines as soon as possible,
  1. Urges States to pursue vigorously an effective, legally binding international agreement to ban the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines with a view to completing the negotiation as soon as possible;

  2. Urges States that have not yet done so to accede to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects and Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996, and urges all States immediately to comply to the fullest extent possible with the applicable rules of Protocol II as amended;

  3. Welcomes the various bans, moratoriums or other restrictions already declared by States on anti-personnel landmines;

  4. Calls upon States that have not yet done so to declare and implement such bans, moratoriums or other restrictions - particularly on operational use and transfer - at the earliest possible date;

  5. Requests the Secretary-General to prepare a report on steps taken to complete an international agreement banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, and on other steps taken by Member States to implement such bans, moratoriums or other restrictions and to submit it to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”;

  6. Requests Member States to provide the requested information for the report of the Secretary-General on steps taken to complete an international agreement banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines and to submit such information to the Secretary-General by 15 April 1997.